Hammed Shittu in Ilorin
The Kwara State Governor, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, yesterday said that the state government has accessed N7 billion grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) to finance massive infrastructural projects in 600 schools across the state.
Speaking at the flag off ceremony in Otte town of Asa Local Government, the governor said the projects were combination of the 2014 to 2019 Universal Basic Education Commission-SUBEB interventions that got stuck as a result of the failure of the previous administration to fulfill its obligations as well as diverting the matching grants it received in 2013.
He said: “The projects include statewide wholesale remodeling of schools, construction of new classrooms, rehabilitation of existing ones, construction of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities, information and communication facilities, and training and retraining of teachers.
“Nearly one decade after meaningful investments in basic education infrastructure stopped across our state, we are this morning flagging off massive construction, rehabilitation, remodeling, and furnishing of hundreds of basic schools across Kwara State.
“This is the outcome of a strategic new beginning between our administration and the UBEC. Kwara’s relationship with the UBEC broke down in 2013 when the former regime diverted the matching grants for school development. This brought Kwara to the rock bottom in the area of basic education infrastructure.
“We had to pay back the diverted funds. Then we saved up to access the N7bn grants that had piled up between 2014 and 2019.”
